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Shares in Delta, a UK engineered materials manufacturer, leapt 10% this morning after the group said it had signed a Â£451m (â¬570m) deal to offload more than two-thirds of its pension obligations. The deal caps a surge of buyout deals in recent months, with schemes worth Â£2.5bn transferred in the first quarter.

With a comparatively mature retirement scheme that is three times the size of its market capitalisation, Delta has been viewed as one of the prime candidates for such a deal.

Delta will transfer about £401m of assets directly out of the £640m retirement fund to Pension Insurance Corporation, the insurance buyout firm led by Edmund Truell. Delta will also contribute an extra £50m from its own coffers.

Pension Insurance Corporation will take on responsibility for 10,200 over-65-year-old pensioners whose benefits will be backed by the assets. The deal follows a two-year three-way negotiation between PIC, the company, led by chief executive Todd Atkinson, and the scheme trustees, chaired by David Pearce.

The number of buyouts in the first quarter was about the same as in the whole of last year. The surge, caused by falling prices, led the actuaries Punter Southall to warn earlier this week that the buyout firms' profitability could be hit unless prices rise.

Traditionally, an insurance company would charge 130% of such liabilities to take pensions bills off a company's hands, but this has fallen to as low as 115% in recent months thanks to a combination of movements in bond yields and increased competition in the sector.

Truell, chief executive of PIC's parent, Pension Corporation, said the Delta deal had been done at a premium "a lot closer" to the accounting valuation than 130%, but added: "The affordability of these deals goes up and down with quite alarming volatility [in line with bond yields], and at the moment it is in good territory."

Marc Hommel, a partner at the consultants PwC, which advised on the deal, said there was a growing desire among UK companies to divest their pension funds in this way, but added: "The question is, is there enough capacity in the market, and are the terms attractive enough?"

He said the desire was not confined to those companies with pension funds hugely bigger than they are. Truell agreed: "A lot of mid-cap companies' share prices have slumped in the past year, so the pension schemes are becoming more material to them compared to their size."

Once it has taken delivery of the assets PIC will put the "vast bulk" into low-risk fixed income investments, though there is some flexibility to allocate to return-seeking funds like hedge funds or private equity, if regulators approve.

Meanwhile, the deal will also give the rump pension scheme left with Delta the flexibility to diversify. The company said: "As the size of the residual plan will be more proportionate to the group and will be comprised of longer-term liabilities, the investment strategy will allow exposure to equities, affording some possibility of gains through out-performance."

The company will also offer deferred pensioners - typically workers who have left the company, but retain a tranche of pension entitlements - an incentive to transfer out, potentially reducing the remaining liability further.